In battle for domainers, which domain name registrars deliver?
In the 2009 Domain Name Wire survey, I once again asked domainers what the most important factors were when selecting a domain name registrar. Here were the top four responses:
1. Security
2. Price
3. Customer Service
4. Account Management tools
With these top considerations in mind, which registrars make sense for large portfolio holders? A couple immediately come to mind (I should note that GoDaddy was voted top registrar overall).
The first, based on personal experience, is Moniker. I keep most of my domains there. Not only is pricing competitive, but there are several levels of security you can apply to your account. Although the user interface could use some work, I like being able to bulk manage up to 5,000 domain names with the click of a button.
Another top registrar for domainers, based on feedback from others, is Fabulous. It offers good pricing and has a reputation for great customer service.
There’s another benefit to using one of these two registrars: selling your domains. Moniker gives you access to selling on both SnapNames and in live auctions; Fabulous gives you access to Domain Distribution Network (and perhaps soon direct listings on NameJet).
There are other domain registrars that focus mostly on the domainer crowd, such as Rebel.
Which registrars do you think are best for domainers?
Review and rate domain name registrars at Registrar Judge.
Fabulous.com is and has always been my favorite. Top of the line for customer service. Awesome management tools. Never a security issue and priced competitively
Name.com would be my choice. Easy controls, great features.
My vote goes to http://www.resellerclub.com
Feature wise its the best… have been a customer for the last 7 years now.
pankaj
Resellerclub, their panel sucks BUT some API script makes it pretty flexible registrar
I just can’t believe that GoDaddy still takes the blue ribbon. It just goes to show that once a company gets big enough it can really do anything and the people will put up with it, especially if they save .05 cents. There is a saying in america that “Americans will put up with anything as long as it doesn’t block traffic”. How apropos.
Do you know how many calls and emails I get from people who had their names hijacked out of GoDaddy? I am surprised they do so well in these surveys.
REBEL.com
Simple as that…. i have over 2000 domains and i have moved most of them over to REBEL because of their EXCELLENT customer service …
Solid platform.
Easy to Use.
Good price.
5 star customer service.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 🙂
a very happy customer ….
Terry
I’ve been using GoDaddy for my portfolio for more than 4 years now. They’re pretty decent, however, I’ve heard from numerous contacts that Rebel, Moniker and Fabolous are better than GoDaddy!
Fyi, right now, instead of moving my domains to another registrar, I’m in talks with LogicBoxes http://domainer.logicboxes.com/ to get ICANN Accredited myself 🙂
It seems like the most apt step for me to take at this point of my business.
Fabulous.com crushes the competition on every level. Mike Robertson is awesome!
@David I have to agree with you re Mike Robertson…the man must never sleep!
I agree with Terry.
Customer service is superb.
Also I love their Export to Excel / Select List feature, it is a must for a domainer.
You can get your whole portfolio information (not just a domain list), filter as you want, and then reimport your selection for applying changes. Saved HOURS each time.
By the way, I’m talking about Rebel 🙂
Name.com – straightforward UI, friendly and knowledgeable people if you need them, plus the recent addition of token authentication for login is an excellent feature!
mp/m
Curious, Really how many times do you find a need to contact “customer service” for registering a domain?
Doesn’t anyone like saving money anymore, or do people just have gobs of money to throw away each year?
I use Netfirms.com, it’s basic, simple and straight forward, and it’s 6.95 per domain name (cheaper if you use a coupon). Customer service “if needed” is there,
For arguments sake, if you buy 100 domains (assuming .com only for now) at:
Rebel.com – $8.95 per for $895.00
Fabulous.com – $7.30 per for $730.00
Moniker.com – $8.02 per for $802.00
Name.com – $8.99 per for $899.00
Resellerclub.com – $7.89 per for $795.00
Netfirms.com – $6.95 per for $695.00
with the exception of Fabulous.com there’s pretty much 200 bucks per year, (pretty much 25 more domains)
I only use GD for transfer, as most people have 1 or 2 names there, as soon as the time is up I move it.
Most of the above, after registering a name, you have to pay for extras, nickle and diming the hell out of you…
with netfirms.com, you get a basic hosting account included for 1 year, good for 5-10 pages depending.
I suppose it’s what people feel comfortable with, but most that comment here are somewhat experienced, and really don’t need all that extra fluff, they register, the park/develop/sell/rent and that’s it.
Each registrar has it’s power set for domainers:
Moniker is good, pricing a little high, but easy connection to selling your domains, which for me, as a flipper, is excellent when I know they connect to Snapnames.
Fabulous.com is for holding on to domains, or selling if you want thru their DDN. Michael Robertson is a vampire, and yes, he never sleeps… he’s a lousy bowler tho! *heh heh
Rebel.com is for domainers who want no crap, no distractions and total commitment. It’s great for people who don’t want to be sucked in by GoDaddy ads and recognize GoDaddy’s insidious “upsell” business model. I believe if you are a true domainer, you will have less than 100 domains at Godaddy, and the majority of your domains registered at the above registrars I mentioned.
Go Moniker, Fabulous, or Rebel, if you want to be in the domain investment circle.
thx Dub-A
I’m moving all my domains out of GoDaddy and Enom over to Moniker. Their prices are the best, except i wish they wouldn’t charge for domain forwarding. And their interface really needs an overhaul. If I look at my domains by category, I should be able to work with them instead of just seeing a list. Look at enom’s magic folders.
I might try Rebel to see what all the fuss is about.
I’d try fabulous if i could get pricing as good as moniker.
Tony – ask your Moniker account rep for free forwarding.
What do you guys think about Dynadot or Namecheap or Tucows ?
I had a client had his $5k a day domain stolen from TuCows with nothing more than a poor photoshop UK driver’s license which was different than the official UK driver’s license in 10 different ways. It wasn’t even close. I would not trust my domains to TuCows ever …
Wow – I didn’t know moniker would do that – cool.
They really need to update their interface. i really like enoms. i want to be able to deal with my domains by folder or category – and moniker just isn’t there. That’s the only reason I’m open to looking at other places.
I’m thinking about trying out Rebel.com – I just wish their pricing was closer to Moniker and Fabulous.
Rebels Portfolio manage and general interface seem nice.
What I don’t like:
limited tlds – no .tel
i thought i was paying one prices as listed on the site, but when i got to the cart they added the icaan fee and a processing fee. who does processing fees anymore? it makes moniker’s prices look that much better.
Argh – registering domains with rebel hits me with an exchange fee. looks like im staying with moniker.
Tony,
The fee you see is not being charged by Rebel.com it is being charged by your credit card comapny.
Visa and MasterCard introduced a “Cross Border/International Assessment Fee” and I believe Amex has a similar type fee. This fee is applied whenever the issuing bank and merchant are in different countries. For example, a US Cardholder making a purchase at Rebel.com (a Canadian based merchant) could be charged a “cross border fee” from their Issuer. This is a fee that is passed directly from the Issuer to the Cardholder.
I have to vote for the uncomplicated, reliable Dynadot, especially now that I am moving into IDNs.
@ Ozie, contact me for some wholesale one-name IDN’s. Great prices if you buy in bulk. Plus, I can set up a nice lunch with Todd Han if you bring over 1000 domains or more to his registrar! Be sure and wear boots if you’re under 6 foot. 😉
@Tony K – Ever see what GoDaddy charges once you get to the shopping cart checkout? You’ll get the fees, trust me.
*My advice to registrars is to just price out new registrations at the full price you’re charging, with no “surprise” add-on fees, regardless if they’re yours, ICANN’s or helping pay for Santa Claus’ mistress.
Again, the best registrars:
MONIKER: For domain flippers (Moniker incorporated my “NS category listing” and “full domain listing to 5000” for ultimate domain management that I designed for Bulkregister back in 2005. Enom (that bought BR) stupidly didn’t migrate this over to their clumsy system. Moniker got the message and I love them for it.
However, GoDaddy copied Eric Rice’s and my “Magic Folder” idea that Enom should have patented when they bought BR. Oh well! A few boobs, a female Indy racer, and millions of your upsell dollars spent on some lame Super Bowl commercial that weirdly helps promote domains, but in a “bad” way”, that’s Godaddy. If you like your domains handled by a president who looks and acts like a second rate Larry Flynt, then GO DADDY! Like Jonah Hill’s opinion of some anatomical area in the movie SUPERBAD — “Not for me.” (I don’t agree with Jonah, but it sounds funny).
When a domainer can look at 5000 domains per page sorted by Name Servers on MONIKER, by scrolling the page, they can quickly see which domains they FORGOT TO CHANGE TO THEIR OWN NAMESERVERS. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve made money from, and who have made money from me, because we forgot to change the NS after we bought the domain. This Moniker feature is one of a kind to help you double check where your domains are pointing! BIG FEATURE!
I love Moniker for several reasons, besides the very competent team they have, the ease of putting your domains up for auction on Snapnames, the intense look on Monte’s handsome face during live auctions (that’s fun to watch when a bad domain is up), Bari’s excellent help and softening your worries with her own spoken sugar, and Victor smoothing out the nicks, scratches and dents.
FABULOUS: Best registrar for customer service, because Michael Robertson is KING. Smartest executive in understanding domain values? Dan Warner by a mile. Best pricing for domains. Fastest search results on bulk lookups on OOTB’s. Great backend for domain mgmt. (I’d like to see them with an ability to group domains for bulk changes to nameservers and bulk renewals instead of that old “cut and paste” scheme.
Great team behind Fabulous, and they’re not US-based, where freedom has been “pushed to the side” in favor of more corporate as*-lickings, and your domains are vulnerable to any freakin’ company with more than two TM attorneys on retainer. Nice to have them registered out of the country… which also brings us to…
REBEL.COM
Upstart company. No nonsense. Dedicated to nothing but managing your domains, no upsell, excellent service and team (Jason Lavigne and Dave Chiswell, at the top). If I was a beginning domainer, or buying just a few domains and was looking at GoDaddy, I would hope some good friend would punch me on the arm and say “WTF DUDE! GODADDY IS LIKE BUYING CROCS! GO REBEL.COM”
For companies and domain investors starting out and who want simple, strong, and dedicated service, REBEL.COM would be my choice. For domainers with big portfolios, you can still get in on that “feel good freshness” that REBEL brings by asking for bulk discounts.
++++
I can’t believe I took an hour to write this comment. This should be on my blog instead of DUB-A’s!!! I get no refcomm from these companies either! Dang!
Why do I get this feeling that DUB-A has lured me into posting comments on his blog, which should be articles on my blog at http://www.successclick.com? What evil influence does that well-dressed, unassuming DUB-A have over me? I’m hexed!
Maybe it’s because deep down, I know more people are reading him than me. BUT that’s probably cuz I like posting my comments here!
I think the Atom and Dub-A place bets on where I’ll write my next novel — DNW.com, or DNN!
Peaceout everyone. My bday is this month, yo brothas!
Definitely time for an update on this topic… it was relevant in 2009, it’s relevant now…. and most of the companies mentioned in this post/comments thread are very different than they were back then.